NBA Elite 11 for PS3: New Controls and NBA Jam Confirmed

Hey guys, I’m Yaw (pronounced as “yao” like Yao Ming) and I’m the NBA Community Manager from Electronic Arts Canada. I work alongside the EA SPORTS: NBA ELITE and NBA JAM development teams. We have exciting news to share with all of you today — three modes of NBA JAM will be included with your purchase of NBA ELITE.

This year, our team at EA SPORTS wanted to create the ultimate basketball experience for PS3 owners. If you’ve been following all the news and updates on NBA ELITE, then the first thing that you’ve seen is the game is no longer called NBA LIVE. So why the name change?

Well, we believe that NBA ELITE will revolutionize the way you think, feel and play basketball video games — forever. The dev team is driving never seen before innovation in the form of a number of features that are radically different than what you have seen in previous NBA games. The first change you will see is in the revised control scheme: Hands-On Control. This year you have full control over everything in the game; from offense to defense. Your shooting is based on skill (not on the dice roll of hitting a button and letting the AI determine your success.) Dribbling is one-to-one movement, you can link moves together seamlessly like; euro-steps, dunk adjusts, spins-moves and so much more.

The second major revolutionary innovation you’re going to see is the inclusion of real physics driving the game. We’re leveraging the physics animation technology that drove NHL, FIFA and even Fight Night into the upper echelons of sports video games and applying it in way that works specifically for basketball.

People that we’ve shared the game with to date have told us that they are impressed (even amazed) at how NBA ELITE is the first game to “play and feel like real basketball.” We feel this comes down to all the little things you are able to see in this year’s game, such as unique ball deflections every time you play the game and various player collisions that make NBA basketball as exciting as it is. Look for more details to come on real physics, killer new modes, and more about our revamped in-game presentation centered around ESPN and their lead commentary team of Breen, Van Gundy, and Jackson.

With all the new additions that have gone into NBA ELITE 11 — we really feel that we’re doing everything to blaze a new path for basketball games — and we want you to play the game to see for yourself. To make NBA ELITE the ultimate basketball experience for you, we will be including three modes of NBA JAM for FREE with NBA ELITE 11. That’s right, not only will you be getting NBA ELITE 11 when you buy the game, but you will also have NBA JAM available as well — so for the price of one game, you’re getting two full NBA experiences. Another important note to share with all of you — the ONLY way you will be able to play NBA JAM for the PS3 is to buy NBA ELITE 11.

With NBA JAM on the PS3, the team is bringing you the classic two-on-two experience that you once knew from the original arcade game but this time with updated teams, and of course all in glorious HD. The controls are very easy to pick up and once you start throwing down monster dunks or begin heating up, it’s going to be hard to put down the controller. The game stays true to the original game but at the same time it offers a brand new take on the classic, with updated graphics and new game-play mechanics.

We’re very excited to be able to share the news with all of you, I know talking with a number of people in the community; everyone has wanted to see NBA JAM on the PS3. I can finally let you all know that your wish has become reality. I’m definitely curious to hear your thoughts about all of this. Be sure to comment below and let us all know what you think of the news.

Pencil mid-to-late September into your calendars for the NBA ELITE downloadable demo on PSN. We really believe that once you play the game for yourselves, you will see the revolutionary change that we’ve been talking about. For more information, join us on Facebook at EA SPORTS NBA, or you can follow me on Twitter @blackflash83.

Comments

I’ve been more and more impressed with Live (or Elite, now) each and every year and I feel like this year, it’s going to really contend with 2k’s NBA game. The problem with 2k basketball is that they aren’t bringing much to the table each and every year; it’s been the same thing, “been there done that” kind of feeling for the past three years or so.

I’m happy to see you’re taking a cue from your other sports titles, especially NHL, for the physics engine. Great to hear.

NBA Jam question for you: can my brother, who is playing on another PS3, and I play a game together against two other people?

Please give NBA Jam its own disc version. I loved playing NBA Jam on the Genesis. I would gladly pay 60 for a disc version of NBA Jam. So please think about bringing NBA Jam out by itself. Because if you do it will sell like crazy.

Dear EA, kiss my rear. I’m not buying your yearly roster update to play the new NBA Jam. What a completely awesome way to let a publisher screw over your loyal customers Sony. I was totally psyched for NBA Jam, now it’s just another reason for me to avoid EA’s games.

I have a FIRST DAY PURCHASE-ing interest in NBA Jam. Is that understood?

See if you can understand this, as well: Because of a lame attempt to grab more sales to a game that (apparently) cannot stand on it’s own, you will be getting ZERO dollars of my money. Yep, it’s amazing how that correlates with my interest in your NBA Elite title.

EA sports division is destroying gamers by buying up exclusive rights to certain sports because the competition was making sports games that were head and shoulders above any EA sports games. Man I can’t wait for 2K to start making NFL games again. They have basketball on lock-down and had Football on lock-down also until you guys bought the exclusive right to NFL games.

Maybe if the full NBA jam was in Elite I might check it out but a gimped version? Also just because we like NBA jam doesn’t mean we we’re going to buy Elite or 2k11. I have no interest in either game. Hopefully for the people who buy Elite you’ll un gimp the game and for those of us who were never going to buy Elite or 2k for that matter we’ll eventually get to buy the full version of Jam. When will you publishers learn that core gamers DO NOT like playing the Wii. We do it because it’s THE ONLY platform to play Nintendo games. 99/100 times when given the choice we pick the HD systems. I’m not buying Jam for the Wii but I will hold out hope you’ll release it on the PS3.

Everyone is a little ticked because you guys aren’t offering nba jam you are offering a gimped version of it i was hyped to not only play a new jam but also to play as the classic teams and try out the boss mode since that sounded interesting but with the way you guys handled this now neither game is complete i can get the non hd version with crap online or maybe no online on wii for full price or buy nba elite and get the incomplete version with hd and online when i just want a full hd complete version of the game(and who knows i might buy elite anyway i need to wait on the demos to decide between elite and 2k11)

I don’t want your “Complete Basketball Package”. I want NBA Jam, full experience, in HD without NBA Elite. NBA Jam has always, always drawn in the non-sports and non-basketball crowd. EA is effectively eliminating a huge portion of the gaming population by holding back NBA Jam from a real release.

..Or you could just include copies of a new NBA JAM. Because Americans are so dumb, that they will buy a horribly made basketball game, so they can receive a code to download a game that stopped being fun 15 years ago.

If I wanted to play NBA Jam, I would just bust out the sega saturn version that I paid .50 cents for 10 years ago.

The reason I don’t want elite is that I don’t want a realistic basketball game. I want a fun, arcadey game that I can pick up and play every now and then. Which is why I want NBA jam on PSN. I want to spend $10 and get the game, not $60 to get a game I don’t want included. It may be great value, but it’s crazy to not give people the option to buy Jam separately.

Yaw, you are such a hypocrite. You go on to say “I know talking with a number of people in the community; everyone has wanted to see NBA JAM on the PS3” and yet we can’t even play NBA Jam unless we buy that other game; did you tell those people you questioned that you won’t be able to purchase NBA Jam separately. l’d be saving more money buying NBA Jam separately. l don’t understand why you can’t just sell this game on the PSN store, this just seems like the biggest dumb mistake l’ve ever seen.

Why is it a mistake to offer two games for the price of one? I understand that you’re looking to play JAM but you have an opportunity to check out another game that’s part of the package and maybe you’ll like what you see.

There’s nothing hypocritical about what I have to say about it man. I think it’s great that you get two different games for the price of one.

“The entire idea of packing JAM with ELITE was to give you guys a full basketball experience where you will have two unique flavors of basketball all in one package.”

That is a lie and you know it. Stop [DELETED] your customers and be honest. NBA Jam obviously has more interest than Elite, so you are trying to sell more copies by bundling NBA Jam. If this wasn’t true, EA would offer an alternate way of purchasing NBA Jam.

The other reason is to degrade the resale value of these games. If you attack the used market, you directly, or indirectly, attack the vast majority of your customers. Time will show that this kind of tactic will not work.

This isn’t about lying to consumers. Packaging two games together is a great deal. NBA JAM offers a great experience and so does NBA ELITE 11. Two different fun experiences for the price of one, that doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all.

At least people from EA are trying to respond to others, I’ll give them that. However, not making NBA Jam a seperate release on PSN and 360 is a mistake. I’m not interested in NBA Elite, until EA changes their style of play AND listens to the fans. 2K has been successful to this point, because of it’s realism (I’ll still play real basketball over it though) and not arcade style play. Putting NBA Jam in NBA Elite is nothing more than a way to drive sales.

Now, if an EA rep responds to this I would gladly tell them in “exact detail” what has been wrong with the Live franchise, now disguised as Elite. I’ll even do a youtube vid for it, picking it apart, if it helps them.

This news is a bummer. I really wanted to play the new NBA Jam. I wanted to buy the new NBA Jam, But i wont buy it for the Wii because Wii online is no good. And now it looks like i wont buy it for PS3/360 because its not the complete game. The only people that are getting a good deal out of this are the people that were already planning on buying NBA Elite 11. But everyone else who just wanted to play the NBA Jam reboot are getting the shaft. And to try and pretend that bundling the game with Elite is anything but a cheap tactic is BS.

The marketing spin guy posting is just so disheartening. How can you NOT see the issue here? People previously interested in NBA Jam that did not have a Wii hear news that it will be coming to PS3 and 360, the catch is that to get it they have to purchase a full $60 game they likely have no interest in to get a watered down version of NBA Jam. Yeah no thanks.

For a percentage of gamers already purchasing NBA Elite, this works out. However, if you did your research, you’d know there’s a HUGE following for NBA Jam by gamers that are otherwise not interested in a full-fledged basketball game and in many cases, simulation sports games period. The thing that made NBA Jam so appealing to the masses was not that it was basketball, but that it was an exciting arcade game that appealed to all audiences.

Nothing more than another marketing scheme by EA, something gamers are likely not particularly surprised by anymore. I truly feel bad for the devs on the NBA Jam update, as this has garnered an intense amount of negative publicity for the relaunch.

I am a huge Jam fan, but I don’t want to drop $60 just to play it in whatever form it is. I’d pay $10-$20 for it, no problem as a stand alone game.

I do get they are re-branding Live and trying to draw back in the NBA crowd with their improvements and changes. I also think it is a good value to have the NBA JAM lite included along with the standard game with no price increase. I just think it’s a big loss for us casual guys or guys already committed to NBA 2K11.

I do understand this is a business, and this is a good business move for EA to convert those on the fence about an NBA game this year, but it is preventing me (a consumer with money) from buying something I want (NBA JAM on a modern console).

But I’m not going to get a half version of the game I want for $60 dollars.

If you make it that the Full NBA Jam(Full Experience like on the Wii) game comes included then I’ll maybe buy. I’ll try your demo too. The thing is you guys lost the touch in NBA Live games. The last “GREAT” NBA Live game was NBA Live 06. After that it seems like ya changed the plans and those plans ruined our Live experience and enriched our 2k experience.

I hope you don’t take any offense to what I’m saying but it’s true. You guys use to be the “KINGS” of NBA games just as you are of the NFL ones but you lost the NBA match to 2k a couple of years back. If you guys at EA don’t want to move on then get someone smarter than the person who thought they should put half of NBA Jam into a game people don’t want before they even tried it.

P.S. MICHAEL JORDAN IS ON THE NBA2k11 CASE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! WHO’S NOT GOING TO BUY THAT?!

I respect your opinion about this as everything you’re saying is fair. Our competition has the most iconic player in basketball in their game and we have JAM packaged with ELITE. I think it’s a great move from EA to give you both of these experiences in our game.

Note to EA: No one wants to buy Elite. Even with the new name, basketball fans are still going to ignore the Live franchise. People want to play NBA Jam for the nostalgic feeling when we as consumers felt when we played the old versions as kids.

Everyone gave up on the Live/Elite franchise since 2005. You guys knew that so you had to bundle NBA Jam with Elite so you can make better profit for the franchise than in previous years.

Oh and the new “pay $10 for online mode if you got the game used” doesn’t help at all.

LMAO, Yaw keeps disagreeing with everyone! There is about 85 posts that don’t agree with what EA is doing, but he keeps sugar coating how they’re is two “unique” games! Cut the BS Ea, no one is falling for it anymore, just look at Madden, and what you guys have done with the football franchise ever since you guys went exclusive with the NFL. You were scared 2K was breathing down your necks, so you had to be a SELLOUT!

guys if you don’t want to pay 60 bucks for NBA jam, THEN DON’T. its a voucher code for a free download… you know that means it will be available separately on psn store eventually. Ill be playing a full “backup” version on the wii until then :)

So the cost of having all the NBA legends available in Wii, X360 and PS3 was too high? Is that what I’m hearing? Did Nintendo give $ to help with the Wii version? I really wanted to play NBA Jam on PS3 but I’m not sure I’ll be playing it at all now.